Read Online The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume 4 by Chögyam Trungpa - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Chögyam Trungpa
Ads: Link
relatives, our lovers, our friends, and our enemies. It also permeates our philosophical beliefs: either something is happening “right” according to our beliefs, or something has gone “wrong” according to our beliefs. Some situations try to dislodge us from our philosophical or religious commitments, and some situations try to draw us into certain commitments. All kinds of energies take place. So when we talk about energy, we are not talking about vigor alone but about that which exists in our lives. It is as though flint and steel were rubbing against each other and sparking constantly, again and again. That is, the phenomenal world exists, and we either rub against it or with it, and that rubbing is constantly creating a spark.
According to the tantric understanding of reality, energy is related to the experience of duality, the experience that you exist and others exist. Of course, both those concepts are false, but who cares about that?—at the time, anyway. The deceptive existence of you and other rubs together, nevertheless. Sometimes you are conquering the world and sometime the world is conquering you. It is like riding on a balloon in the ocean: Sometimes the balloon rides on you and you are underneath the ocean; sometimes you ride on the balloon and the balloon is underneath the ocean. That play of duality takes place constantly; that kind of electricity takes place all the time.
So the basic notion of energy is nothing particularly magical or miraculous. It is simply the rubbing together of the duality of you and the phenomenal world, you and other. We are talking about that spark, that fire. It is real fire, real water, real earth, and real air: The real elements are working with you. Still, at this point we have no idea who you are, actually. Let’s just say we are talking about the basic you . Let’s leave it vague at this point; otherwise it is going to get too complicated. Just leave it at you , this vague stuff that exists somewhere or other in the middle of the cosmos.
At this point the question arises of how we can handle, or utilize, such energy. In fact, that has been a question for a long, long time. For twenty-five hundred years the same question has been asked: How can we handle self-existing energy; how can we work with it? Fundamentally, that question is the question of how to handle duality, or the basic split.
The split between self and other is taking place constantly, constantly creating energy, and we are always trying to work with it. Our approach is usually to try to unify the split in order to avoid the energy. We may say, “I am a good man; I am a bad man; I am Joe; I am Mary.” In doing so, we are trying to bring self and other together in a superficial sense, as if no energy existed at all, as though everything were going smoothly: “There is nothing to worry about; everything’s going to be okay. I am Mary, and that’s smooth. There is no gap between I and am and Mary at all.” Or we try to avoid the split by refusing to say “I am.” Instead we might say, “My name is Mary.” Still we have a problem. That approach of smoothing things out and trying to make everything presentable and respectable brings enormous problems, enormous questions. In fact, instead of getting rid of the energy, it raises further energy.
The attempt to define who we are and who we are not is basically split into two approaches: the theistic approach and the nontheistic approach. In the nontheistic approach we simply acknowledge the dualistic gap rather than trying to unify it or conceal it. In the theistic approach, there is an ongoing attempt to conceal that gap completely. There is a notion of spiritual democracy. In fact, that approach is often used in dealing with political and social problems: “Blacks are not against whites—we are all the same species. Since we all live on the same earth, we should regard ourselves as a brotherhood.”
That approach of covering up separateness,
According to the tantric understanding of reality, energy is related to the experience of duality, the experience that you exist and others exist. Of course, both those concepts are false, but who cares about that?—at the time, anyway. The deceptive existence of you and other rubs together, nevertheless. Sometimes you are conquering the world and sometime the world is conquering you. It is like riding on a balloon in the ocean: Sometimes the balloon rides on you and you are underneath the ocean; sometimes you ride on the balloon and the balloon is underneath the ocean. That play of duality takes place constantly; that kind of electricity takes place all the time.
So the basic notion of energy is nothing particularly magical or miraculous. It is simply the rubbing together of the duality of you and the phenomenal world, you and other. We are talking about that spark, that fire. It is real fire, real water, real earth, and real air: The real elements are working with you. Still, at this point we have no idea who you are, actually. Let’s just say we are talking about the basic you . Let’s leave it vague at this point; otherwise it is going to get too complicated. Just leave it at you , this vague stuff that exists somewhere or other in the middle of the cosmos.
At this point the question arises of how we can handle, or utilize, such energy. In fact, that has been a question for a long, long time. For twenty-five hundred years the same question has been asked: How can we handle self-existing energy; how can we work with it? Fundamentally, that question is the question of how to handle duality, or the basic split.
The split between self and other is taking place constantly, constantly creating energy, and we are always trying to work with it. Our approach is usually to try to unify the split in order to avoid the energy. We may say, “I am a good man; I am a bad man; I am Joe; I am Mary.” In doing so, we are trying to bring self and other together in a superficial sense, as if no energy existed at all, as though everything were going smoothly: “There is nothing to worry about; everything’s going to be okay. I am Mary, and that’s smooth. There is no gap between I and am and Mary at all.” Or we try to avoid the split by refusing to say “I am.” Instead we might say, “My name is Mary.” Still we have a problem. That approach of smoothing things out and trying to make everything presentable and respectable brings enormous problems, enormous questions. In fact, instead of getting rid of the energy, it raises further energy.
The attempt to define who we are and who we are not is basically split into two approaches: the theistic approach and the nontheistic approach. In the nontheistic approach we simply acknowledge the dualistic gap rather than trying to unify it or conceal it. In the theistic approach, there is an ongoing attempt to conceal that gap completely. There is a notion of spiritual democracy. In fact, that approach is often used in dealing with political and social problems: “Blacks are not against whites—we are all the same species. Since we all live on the same earth, we should regard ourselves as a brotherhood.”
That approach of covering up separateness,
Similar Books
